The U.S. Pat. No. of Mann, et al., 3,040,980, June 26, 1962, shows an electric eye-type minnow counting device. Of interest should be the use of a funnel-like member 10 and features of the device based on some natural instincts of minnows (note FIG. 3 and column 5, lines 49-62).
The U.S. Pat. Nos. of Klapes, 3,395,269, July 30, 1968, and Potter, 2,523,517, Sept. 26, 1950, show electric eye counters of small objects that employ automatic cutoff means.
The U.S. Pat. Nos. of Ross, et al., 3,372,784 and Shook, 2,279,862, May 14, 1957, show minnow dispensers that automatically cut off the output of minnows after a predetermined count.
The U.S. Pat. No. of Englesson, 3,273,276, Sept. 20, 1966, shows a fish catching device including pump 4, funnel-shaped trawl 1 and suction line 3. Of interest should be the arrangement of the discharge tube 8 so that the flow of fish may be observed (see column 2, lines 53-65).
The following U.S. patents are selected as examples of ones disclosing photo-electric counting devices:
U.s. pat. No. 3,760,166 PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,412,254 PA1 U.s. pat. No. 2,470,926 PA1 U.s. pat. No. 2,333,791 PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,212,210 PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,105,320 PA1 U.s. pat. No. 3,048,937 PA1 U.s. pat. No. 2,860,444
The following U.S. patents show live minnow or bait dispensers that may be of further interest:
None of the above-mentioned patents suggests making use of a minnow's light/darkness sense to aid in creating a flow of minnows through a counting device or the like.